Hat-forming machine.



No. 650,025. Patented May 2 2, |900.

G. H. L. scH00NMAKEn.& J. A. cANFlELn.

HAT FORMING MACHINE.

(Application filed may s, 1899.) '('No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I m: NukmsPETERS co. wow-Unno.. wAsHmcToN. n c,

. Patented May 22, |900. G. H. L. SCHUONMAKER &. J. A. CANFIELD.

HAT Fommmi MAcHAlNE.

(Application med may e, 1 899,)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2'.

{No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. l). SCHOONMAKER AND JOHN A. CANFIELD, OF DANBURY,CONNECTICUT..

HAT-FORMNG MACHINE.

:i SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,025, dated. May22, 1900.

Application filed May 6,1899. l Serial No. 715,843. (No model.) v

To @ZZ 107210172/ it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE H. L. SCHOON- MAKER and JOHN A. CANEIELD,citizens of the 'United States, residing at Danbury, in the county ofFairlield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Hat-Forming Machines; and we do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

Our invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inhatforming machines, but more particularly relates to automaticweighing-ont mechanism whereby the fur will be accurately and uniformlyweighed and deposited upon an apron preparatory to being properly andevenly distributed for use on hat-forming cones.

The object of our invention is to accurately weigh and distribute givenquantities of fur by automatic instrumentalities, whereby the service oftwo workmen may be dispensed with; and with these ends in view ourinvention consists in certain details of construction and combinationsof parts, such as will be hereinafter fully set forth and thenspecifically be designated by the claims.

In order that those :skilled in the art to which our inventionappertains may more fully understand the same, we will proceed todescribe its construction and operation, referring by numbers ofreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisapplication, and in which* Figure 1 is a sectional. elevation, partlybroken away, showing abat-forming machine equipped with our improvement;Fig. 2, a broken side elevation illustrating our -improvement; Fig. 3, asection at the line x of Fig 2, and Fig et a detail broken perspectiveof the division-bar which separates the feeding-belts.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

1 is the frame of an ordinary hat-forming machine, and 2 the usualchamber which is in communication with the hat-cone.

Usually an attendant weighs out a given quantity of fur and empties itinto trays having partitions, these trays being then taken by anotherattendant who spreads or sprinkles the fur evenly upon an endless apron,and the fur is led by means ot' this apron directly to the feed-rollswhich deliver the fur to the picker in the chamber 2.

We provide a chamber 3, which has preferably a wire-screen roof 4 forthe purposes of proper ventilation, and within this chamber are anendless belt 5 and a picker-roll 6.

7 represents t-he feed rolls between the chambers 2 3 and by means ofwhich the fur is delivered from the belt 5 to the picker 8 in thechamber 2, and 9 represents feed-rolls at the outer end of the chamber3, which deliver the fur from an endless belt 10 to the picker G in thechamber 3. This belt 10 is in front of the rolls 9, and the fur from thescale-pan is deposited upon this belt and thence conveyed to thefeed-rolls 9 and delivered to the picker G. The chamber 3 is an extra orauxiliary chamber intermediate of the forming-chamber 2 and the usualbelt 10, and by providing this extra chamber the fur can be dumped in amass upon the belt 10 and evenly spread by the operation of the picker 9upon the belt 5 preparatory to being delivered within theforming-chamber 2--that is to say, this auxiliary chamber 3 performs thefunction of evenly spreading the fur upon the belt for delivery to theforming-chamber, which operation of spreading has heretofore beenperformed by an attendant.

11 represents standards rising from the frame, and between thesestandards is pivoted in any suitable manner the scale-beam 12,whichlatter is provided with an adjustable weight 13 at one end, while theother end is yoke shaped.

Pivoted between the yoke end of the beam l2 is the scale-pan 14, whosebottom 15 is hinged to the body of the pan at 16, while a leaf-spring 17at or about the point of hinging serves to keep this bottom in closedposition. Extending laterally from one side edge of' this bottom is apin 18, and athwart this -pin and immediately above the same is the long.leg of a bell-crank 19, pivoted at its knee at 2O to one of thestandards 11, while to the lower or short ieg of this lever is connecteda rod 2l, which is properly sustained and guided and extends to thatportion of the machine adjacent to the forming-chamber and is providedIOO with a suitable handle 22 for the purpose presently explained.

23 is a coil-spring whose ends are secured, respectively, to one of thestandards 1l and to the upper or long leg of the bell-crank 19, thefunction of this spring being to hold said leg upward in its normalposition. y

The scale-pan is immediately above the belt 10, so that when the bottomof said pan is opened the contents will drop upon said belt for thepurpose presently explained.

24 is a hopper which overhangs the scalepan and is open at such overhanging portions, and 25 is the door of said hopper through which fur isplaced within the latter.

26 is a shaft. 27 is a long drum tight on said shaft, and 28 is a shortdrum loose around said shaft, which short drum is reduced and journaledin one side of the hopper, while the shaft itself is journaled in theother side of the hopper.

29 30 are respectively wide and narrow endless belts around t-he drums27 28 throughout their length within the hopper, said belts also passingaround independent idle drums 3l 32 within the lower part of saidhopper. These idle drums are capable of revolution independent of eachother, the drum 3l. for the wide belt being shown in section at Fig. l.,while the drum 32 for the narrow belt is shown in dotted lines at Fig.2. The outer surfaces of both these belts 2S) 30 are provided withpicker-spurs 33 34, and the upper drums 27 28 are near that portion ofthe hopper which overhangsthe scale-pan, so that fur which is picked upby these spurs will be carried over these upper drums, and as said furleaves the spurs after being carried over said drums it will fall withinthe scale-pan; but it is quite likely that the fur will not readily dropfrom the spurs, but will adhere thereto in greater or lesser quantities,and we therefore have provided means for knocking the fur off from1 saidspurs, so that it will readily fall in the scale-pan, this meanscomprising a paddle 35, having any suitable number of blades and capableof revolving in a direction reverse to that in which the belts travel.The shaft 36 of this paddle is journaled within the sides of the hopperin the over-hanging portion, and on one end of this shaft is anysuitable pulley 37, which may be belted up to produce the desiredmovements of the paddle.

38 is a partition which is loosely hung around the upper and lowershafts of the beltcarrying rollers, so as to separate the belts 29 30from each other.

Loose around the shaft 26, but incapable of movement lengthwise thereof,is a pulley 39, and splined upon this shaft, so as to be capable oflengthwise movement therealong, is a clutch 40, which is normally thrownagainst the hub of this pulley 3f) by means of a coil-spring 41, theadjacent faces of said clutch and hub being provided with teeth in theusual manner, so that it will be clear that when said clutch and hub arcengaged any rotary movement of the pulley 39' will be imparted to theshaft 26.

42 is the clutch-lever, pivoted to any suitable bracket 43, extendingfrom the hopper, and 44 represents magnets supported at the side of thehopper. One end of the lever 42 is connected with the clutch 40 in theusual manner, while the other end is formed into an armature within thefield of the magnets 44, and it will therefore be readily understoodthat when the armature is attracted by said magnets the clutch 40 willthereby be forced outwardly against the resiliency of the spring 4l,thereby causing the shaft 26 to become stationary.

45 is a pulley loose around the reduced portion of the short drum 28,but incapable of movement lengthwise thereof, and splined upon thisreduced portion, so as to be capable of lengthwise movement therealong,is a clutch 46, which is normally,thrown against the hub of the pulley45 by means of a coilspring 47, the adjacent faces of said clutch andhub being provided with teeth in the usual manner, and it will thereforebe clear that the engagement of said clutch and hub will cause anyrotary movement of the pulley to be imparted to this short drum 28.

48 is a clutch-lever pivoted to any suitable bracket 49 extending fromthe hopper, and 50 represents magnets supported at the side of thehopper. One end of this lever 48 is connected with the clutch 46 in anyordinary manner, while the other end constitutes an armature within thefield of the magnets 50, and it will therefore be clear that when saidarmature is attracted by these magnets the clutch 46 will thereby beforced outwardly against the resiliency of the spring 47, therebycausing said short drum to become stationary.

5l is a dog pivoted to the side of the hop- IOS per, while the otherextremity rests by gravity upon the scale-beam.

52 53 are light spring insulated contact-s, the former depending fromthe free end of the dog` 5l, while the latter is secured at the side ofthe hopper and extends upwardly. 54 55 are insulated terminals securedto the side of the hopper, and 56 is a circuit-closer carried by thescale-beam. These contacts 52 53 and terminals 54 55 are electricallyconnected in any usual and well-known manner with the coils of themagnets heretofore referred to, so that when a circuit is closed by theengagement of the contacts 52 53 the magnets 44 will be vitalized,thereby stopping the movement of the drum 27 and the wide belt carriedthereby, while the closing of the circuit by means of contact betweenthe closer 56 and the terminals 54 55 will effect the vitalization ofthe magnets 50, thereby stopping the movement of the short drum and thenarrow belt carried thereby.

In all sorts of weighing apparatus for various purposes and also inweighing substances by the depositing of the latter within a scalepanthc articles or substances weighed are IIO very slowly deposited withinthe scale-pan toward the latter` part of the weighing operation in'orderto obtain accuracy in weight. It would never do to suddenly dump aconsid* erable amount of any substance within a scale-pan, because ifoverweight was ascertained then such substance would have to begradually removed. Our invention aims to gradually deposit the fur inthe scale-pan toward the latter part of the weighing Operation, and thisis effected by the action of the magnets, as we will now describe.

It will of course be apparent that the dog 5l adds a certain weight tothe scale-beam so long as it rests thereon, and we will also callattention to the fact that as the scale-pan falls the contacts 52 53will engage before thecloser 5G comes in contact with the terminals 5455. As the belts 29 30 travel, owing to the normal engagement of theclutches and pulleys heretofore referred to, the f ur will be picked upfrom the hopper and will be deposited within the scale-pan, the amountof fur required being such as will just overhalance the weight 13 in theposition to which the latter i's adjusted. lVhen the scale-pan drops,owing to the combined weights of the fur and dog 51, the contacts 52 53will be engaged, thereby stopping the movement of the larger belt 20,and the scale-beam will then be relieved of the weight of this dog, sothat the small belt 30 will now operate to deposit fur within the pan insmall quantities until said weight is overbalanced, whereupon the closer56 will engage with the terminals 541c 55, thereby stopping the movementof this small belt 30. The operator now pulls the handle 22, therebyopening the bottom of the scalepan and allowing the fur containedtherein to be dumped upon the belt l0, whereupon the operator releasesthis handle and the bottom ot' the pan closes automatically, owing toits resilient action, and the scale-pan, being relieved Ot the fur, willrise to its normal position, and the electric circuit will be broken, sothat the clutches and pulleys will engage and the operation of weighingbe continued. The belt lO is constantly traveling, and the fur dumpedthereon will be carried to the feed-rolls 9, which latter will deliverit to the picker 6 in the chamber 3, which picker will cause the fur tobe evenly distributed upon the traveling belt 5, which latter willconvey it to the feed-rolls 7, whereby it will be delivered to thepicker 8 in the forming-chamber 2. It will thus be readily understoodthat our machine is automatic in every particular and that the fur willat first be deposited within the pan in considerable quantities untilthe desired amount is nearly obtained, whereupon the further weighingwill be accomplished gradually.

The amount of fur which is gradually weighed out toward the latter endofthe weighing` operation of course depends upon the weight of the dogupon the scale-beam, and this d'og may be more or less heavy, accordingto the demands of the occasion, and we of course do not wish to belimited in this respect.

Having thus described our invention,what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a hat-forming machine, the herein-described apparatus fOr weighingout the fur, which comprises a pivoted scale-beam carrying aweighing-pan, a predetermined weight resting upon said beam near the panand adapted to descend for a certain distance with said beam, a hopperwhich contains the fur, fast and slow feeding devices within said hopperinitially operated in harmony for primarily underloadin g said panwhereby the latter is caused to descend when there is ashortage in itscontents equal to said weight, electrical contacts supported by theframe of the machine and by said weight, and means, operated by theclosing of said contacts, for relieving the beam ot' said weight and forcausing an amount of fur equal to said shortage to be deposited in theweighing-pan by the action of the slow-feeding device alone,substantially as set forth.

2. In a hat-forming machine, the'combination of the pivoted scale-beamcarrying the weighin g-pan ,the pivoted dog resting by gravity upon saidbeam at the end which carries the pan, insulated electric contactscarried by said Vdog` and by a stationary part of the machine, thecircuit-closer .carried by said beam, electric terminals secured to astationary part of the machine, means operated by the engagement of saidcontacts for effecting the Iinal filling of said pan at a lesser speed,and means operated bythe engagement of said closer and terminals forstopping the delivery of fur into said pan, substantially as set forth.

3. In a hat-forming machine, the combination of the pivoted scale-beamcarrying the weighing-pan and a circuit-closer, the pivoted dog restingupon said beam'and carrying an insulated electrical contact, the hopperwithin which the fur is placed, the wide and narrow belts capable ofoperation in unison and whereby the fur is delivered from said hopperinto the weighing-pan, and the electric contact and terminals secured toa stationary part of the machine and with which the firstnamed contactand the circuit-closer respectively engage in succession during thedropping of said pan, whereby the final delivery of the fur into saidpan is ettected solely by means of the narrow belt and the feeding ofthe fur entirely stopped after the desired amount has been weighed out,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we alix our signatures in presence ot twowitnesses.

GEORGE II. L. SCIIOONMAKER.

JOHN A. CANFIELD.

Vitnesses:

MARY E. BROOKS, FRANK BROOKS.

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